Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War

From the former secretary of defense, a strikingly candid, vivid account of serving Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When Robert M. Gates received a call from the White House, he thought he'd long left Washington politics behind: After working for six presidents in both the CIA and the National Security Council, he was happily serving as president of Texas A&M University. But when he was asked to help a nation mired in two wars and to aid the troops doing the fighting, he answered what he felt was the call of duty.

The Price of Politics

Based on 18 months of reporting, Woodward's 17th book The Price of Politics is an intimate, documented examination of how President Obama and the highest profile Republican and Democratic leaders in the United States Congress attempted to restore the American economy and improve the federal government's fiscal condition over three and one half years. The Price of Politics addresses the key issue of the presidential and congressional campaigns: the condition of the American economy.

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?: Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround

In 1990, IBM had its most profitable year ever. By 1993, the company was on a watch list for extinction, victimized by its own lumbering size, an insular corporate culture, and the PC era IBM had itself helped invent.

Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence

Daniel Goleman's international best seller Emotional Intelligence forever changed our concept of "being smart," showing how emotional intelligence (EI) - how we handle ourselves and our relationships - can determine life success more than IQ. Now Goleman and company apply that knowledge to leadership in a must-hear presentation.

Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?

War with China is much more likely than anyone thinks. When Athens went to war with Sparta some 2,500 years ago, the Greek historian Thucydides identified one simple cause: A rising power threatened to displace a ruling one. As the eminent Harvard scholar Graham Allison explains, in the past 500 years, great powers have found themselves in "Thucydides's Trap" 16 times. In 12 of the 16, the results have been catastrophic.

The Last of the President's Men

Bob Woodward exposes one of the final pieces of the Richard Nixon puzzle in his new book, The Last of the President's Men. Woodward reveals the untold story of Alexander Butterfield, the Nixon aide who disclosed the secret White House taping system that changed history and led to Nixon's resignation.

All the President's Men

Beginning with the story of a simple burglary at Democratic headquarters and then continuing with headline after headline, Bernstein and Woodward kept the tale of conspiracy and the trail of dirty tricks coming - delivering the stunning revelations and pieces in the Watergate puzzle that brought about Nixon's scandalous downfall. Their explosive reports won a Pulitzer Prize for The Washington Post and toppled the president. This is the book that changed America.

My Share of the Task: A Memoir

In this illuminating memoir, McChrystal frankly explores the major episodes and controversies of his eventful career. He delves candidly into the intersection of history, leadership, and his own experience to produce a book of enduring value. Joining the troubled post-Vietnam army as a young officer, McChrystal witnessed and participated in some of our military’s most difficult struggles. He describes the many outstanding leaders he served with and the handful of bad leaders he learned not to emulate.

Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency

From the reporter who was there at the very beginning comes the revealing inside story of the partnership between Steve Bannon and Donald Trump - the key to understanding the rise of the alt-right, the fall of Hillary Clinton, and the hidden forces that drove the greatest upset in American political history.

Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq

Unimpeachably sourced, Cobra II describes how the American rush to Baghdad provided the opportunity for the virulent insurgency that followed. The brutal aftermath in Iraq was not inevitable and was a surprise to the generals on both sides; Cobra II provides the first authoritative account as to why. It is a book of enduring importance and incisive analysis, a comprehensive account of the most reported yet least understood war in American history.

The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency

What do Dick Cheney and Rahm Emanuel have in common? Aside from polarizing personalities, both served as chief of staff to the president of the United States - as did Donald Rumsfeld, Leon Panetta, and a relative handful of others. The chiefs of staff, often referred to as "the gatekeepers", wield tremendous power in Washington and beyond; they decide who is allowed to see the president, negotiate with Congress to push POTUS' agenda, and - most crucially - are the first in line to the leader of the free world's ear.

Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace

It could be said that Leon Panetta has had two of the most consequential careers of any American public servant in the past 50 years. His first career, beginning as an army intelligence officer and including a distinguished run as one of Congress' most powerful and respected members, lasted 35 years and culminated in his transformational role as Clinton's budget czar and White House chief of staff.

Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime

Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasion-ally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last 60 years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America's confidence.

Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign

It was never supposed to be this close. And of course she was supposed to win. How Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to Donald Trump is the tragic story of a sure thing gone off the rails. For every Comey revelation or hindsight acknowledgment about the electorate, no explanation of defeat can begin with anything other than the core problem of Hillary's campaign - the candidate herself.

Once an Eagle: A Novel

Once an Eagle is the story of one special man, a soldier named Sam Damon, and his adversary over a lifetime, fellow officer Courtney Massengale. Damon is a professional who puts duty, honor, and the men he commands above selfinterest. Massengale, however, brilliantly advances his career by making the right connections behind the lines and in Washington’s corridors of power.

Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power

Three and a half years ago, David Sanger’s book The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power described how a new American president came to office with the world on fire. Now, just as the 2012 presidential election battle begins, Sanger follows up with an eye-opening, news-packed account of how Obama has dealt with those challenges, relying on innovative weapons and reconfigured tools of American power to try to manage a series of new threats.

The Day the World Went Nuclear: Dropping the Atom Bomb and the End of World War II in the Pacific

Autumn 1944. World War II is nearly over in Europe, but in the Pacific, American soldiers face an enemy who will not surrender despite a massive and mounting death toll. Meanwhile, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team of scientists are preparing to test the deadliest weapon known to mankind. Newly inaugurated president Harry Truman faces the most important political decision in history: whether to use that weapon.

Publisher's Summary

Working behind the scenes for 18 months, Bob Woodward has written the most intimate and sweeping portrait of President Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret war in Pakistan, and the worldwide fight against terrorism. Drawing on internal memos, classified documents, meeting notes, and hundreds of hours of interviews with most of the key players, including the president, Woodward offers an original, you-are-there account of Obama and his team in this time of turmoil and uncertainty.

As with all Woodward books, this continues in the same mold. He gives an unprecedented view into a very secretive and highly classified process, even if it is after the fact. My viewpoint on Afghanistan has slightly changed as a result of listening to this audio book. While I vehemently oppose the war to this day, Woodward has explained the reason for it continuing and why we must succeed; he does this in an elaborately detailed web of compendious sources that make up the bigger picture.
As far as the narrator goes, Gaines is a genius! He has a specifically distinct tone and demeanor for the myriad of characters here. It's almost as if when Karzai is speaking, it's him and not Gaines I'm hearing. Gaines is extremely effective in this regard, and as a result, enhances Woodward's account.

First, read this book if you like Obama and if you don't. The insights are worth the effort for those who are news junkies and those who are just interested in what has taken place in the country. I might say that the book is best thought of as an essay on the lonliness of command. For listeners - listen for the patterns and insights that will be gained - the impressions are most informative. The writing is Bob Woodward, the reading of Boyd Gaines is very good - over all there is insight here for those willing to take time. Draw your own conclusions about Obama.

Woodward gives his usual thorough, almost too much so, narrative of the current Afgan war, and the many problems there after the country was left to languish as Bush turned his sights on Iraq. The only minor complaints are that the long and almost repetitive narratives become background noise after awhile. Plus, the subject matter is quite narrow in scope. I wanted to hear more about the other trials and problems in the White House ongoing at the same time. There are also clear moments in the audio where the narrator was either starting a new day of reading, or had to "punch in" some audio changes after the fact. A bit shoddy for this stature of book.

I'll admit, prior to reading this book, I didn't understand what was taking the president so long to decide on how to handle Afghanistan. This book very clearly explains the process that Obama forced our military and political leaders through. He very clearly and rationaly set the agenda and did his job. Of course there are always many sides to every story, so it is difficult to know whom to believe. As an independant voter I am no Obama supporter. However, if what was written in this book is true, then I have a new respect for our president and his handling of our troop deployment to Afghanistan.

I have no idea what really goes on behind closed doors and neither do the rest of us but I think Woodward creates a believable piece of work here.
He makes you feel like you are there watching the whole thing happen. Being president is not, in my opinion, an enviable position. Choices between bad and worse, having to deal with lots of people with big egos motivated by self interest.
It's easy to see why he already has grey hair. The guy makes it 8 years he's going to look like Morgan Freeman.

'Obama's' Wars' is a continuation of the four books Woodward has already written on the Middle Eastern wars since Sept 11. Once again Woodward is able to get a whole lot of, inside information about the strategies and tactics our leaders are using.
The main facts learned are 1) Obama came in as president looking for a more efficient way to prosecute the Afgan war 2) Two basic strategies emerged a) Biden's small footprint strategy of going after high value targets (a continuation of what was Bush's war strategy only with an increased emphases on Afgan now that Iraq was winding down) b) The Petraeus counter-insurgency plan that had shown some success in Iraq. 3) Obama wanted some middle ground between these strategies because he saw how Bush's strategy was largely unsuccessful and with Al Qaeda now in Pakistan a larger presence in Afghanistan was needed. However, Obama did not think that a full grown insurgency could work because of the differences in culture and landscape in Afgan and the fact that our enemy (Al Qaeda was not in Afghan.) ment that even if we killed every single Taliban (many of whom arent against us) we would not have killed one Al Qaeda (our real enemy). 4) The military brass (largely left over from Bush) did not care about these facts, insisted on doing its own thing, ignored the Commander and Chief and publicly made disparaging remarks about their president. Finally they coordinated with Republican strategists to get their way despite the constitution that they made an oath to defend. 5) This forced Obama to create a new middle ground strategy that is in our national interest.
It is almost amazing the degree of information that he is able to get. Listening to the book, I couldn't keep from wondering why people were still talking with Woodward. I think many of them are trying to shape the narrative, but the fact that Woodward talks to so many people and gets so many points of view prevents any one persons attempt to create a history of their liking

This is Bob Woodard in his element. Beyond the politicking and spinning of the arguments, he gives an almost AP factual style reporting on what is really going on in the White House. Much like his three books on the Bush administration, it is not hard to see pundits on both sides of the isle picking and choosing their quotes from this work to support their point-of-view.
In the end, what we walk away from this experience with is the understanding that The White House is home to the biggest internal rivalry of egos in the country. Negotiating them and trying to map the way ahead for our country is a path beset with many obstacles, opinions, and potential detours. Most readers are going to look at this work and try to draw comparisons, which is completely legitimate and possible. In the end, what Woodard makes clear is that these are all people who fervently believe that what they do everyday moves our country forward to the best of their abilities. It is up to the reader to look at the FACTS and decide is this the future they envision for our country.
I recommend this book to readers of all stripes, red, blue, and purple.

As one would expect from Woodward, Obama's Wars painted a generally positive picture of the president as he pursued his strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan. I'm left with an impression of the president as a man trying to find the solution to all the related problems and balance the contradictions. My thought is that he would like a solution that makes everyone happy. He likes a thorough study and will sacrifice time for precision. Obama has lots of faith in himself and making things happen in what could very well be an unreasonable amount of time. He is a good poker player and I’m not convinced he was not playing poker with his entire national security team. He keeps his cards close.

The vast majority of the book involves the dynamics between the players in national security in Washington and team members in theater. The picture painted is of a dysfunctional national security team plagued by conflicting world views, broadly different experiences and loyalties, interpersonal rivalries, and competing agendas.

The president alone crafted objectives on a time line driven by the election cycle. They can be achieved with lots of luck, but the time doesn't have room for Clausewitz's “fog” and “friction.” I'm betting that by now the time line has been wrecked. I think the president's political advisers will push him to exit sooner than later. Meanwhile, General Petraeus' hands are tied by time, resources, and a strategy that limits his use of what he know works.

I can't imagine this administration using the word “victory” with regard to military entanglements (you won't see “counterinsurgency” either— It is perceived as taking too much time and resources). Instead what we will see are nuanced terms (new ones are best) crafted to keep the president's “base” and subsequently the electorate in the president's court. Messaging remains all important and “victory” may be perceived negatively by those wanting to give “peace a chance.”